Augusta’s Plastic Fantastic idea!

Year 11 student Augusta Botha is a budding entrepreneur after taking out first place for the Year 11 Business Plan Challenge at the University of Newcastle! Of the 546 students and 387 plans, Augusta was firstly selected as a finalist in the top four in the state, winning $1000 in cash and $500 for the School.

From there, Augusta was invited to the grand final presentation at the University of Newcastle last Friday, where she discussed her business plan to a panel of experts. She ended up coming out on top and scored an additional $1000 and a $2000 scholarship!

Augusta’s ingenious idea was to make bricks out of recycled plastic. She explained her process as follows. “We collect plastic from recycling centres and then transform it into bricks that can be used for housing. There are some places in America that do it but it hasn’t really taken off in Australia yet but it’s actually something that structurally works”.

Augusta was inspired by global environmental concerns such as the overflow of plastic going into landfill. She explains, “Plastic is having an adverse impact on the environment and our health. If we don’t start doing something soon, it’s going to destroy our earth”.

Through her hard work and diligent effort, Augusta has demonstrated a keen business mind, innovative ideas and an entrepreneurial spirit. The process has also pushed the Year 11 student out of her comfort zone. “I idea that I could do this and no idea I would get this far. The process taught me that if you work hard and feel passionate about something, it will pay off. Who knows, maybe we’ll be able to use something like plastic bricks in the future”.